New Life
by Kalira69
Summary: The plants in Yama's greenhouse bay are not the only things blooming anew in the days after the discovery of the Earth's renewal. (Soulmate AU.)


Day 5 of my Valentine's soulmate AU fluff project!

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Harlock shifted as he woke, feeling warm and content but somehow . . . strange. Bringing his hands up, he felt something soft tucked against his fingers. He freed one hand and carefully tightened the grip of the other before throwing his thick, heavy coverlet aside, brows drawing together. He froze. Lying against his scarred palm was a tiny white flower on a gently-curved stem.

It didn't look like it once had - though Harlock's memory of it as it had once been was . . . fuzzy - but Harlock could hardly fail to recognise it for what it was, even in this new guise. It might look like one of the flowers from Earth that Yama was growing in the Arcadia's newly-added greenhouse bay, but. . .

He brushed his thumb over the soft petals and _felt_ it, his heart fluttering at the touch.

Harlock's throat locked up and he swallowed hard against the feeling. It had been more than one hundred years since he had last felt, since he had last _seen_ -

His Heart Flower. Harlock had thought it was dead. Long crushed out of him by the weight of his own mistakes, his guilt.

What- Harlock _was_ . . . happier, he could admit - perhaps healthier, in his heart. Since they had discovered the new life blooming on the Earth, months ago. His _Heart Flower_ , though. . . And _now_. What could have brought it back?

Harlock's fingers twitched around the tiny, delicate flower as he suddenly remembered-

Yesterday, he had been speaking to Yama - about the growth of the small flowers, and the other plants he was sprouting in his greenhouse bay, in fact - and Yama had. . .

He had gone silent, a faint flush creeping over his cheeks, before leaning up and kissing Harlock, quick and soft, almost shy. Then he'd just . . . darted away.

Harlock hadn't been sure what to think of it - it was hardly the first time one of his crew had done such a thing, but usually he . . . shrugged it off. With Yama-

With Yama Harlock had . . . wanted it, though it hadn't been in his mind before. Had wanted to call him back, catch hold of him before he could run away.

Harlock drew his legs up like a child, resting his forearms across his thighs just below his knees and looking at the tiny white flower. He brushed his thumb over it again, gently, and shivered at the sensation, faint as it was.

Faint, with only the touch of his own hands - and his Heart Flower had never belonged to anyone else, he had never left it in someone else's care, had only ever really felt his own touch to it - it was a feeling Harlock had not felt in more than a century.

Had never belonged. . .

Harlock's fingers tightened around the stem, delicate leaves crumpling slightly in his grasp. Harlock's Heart Flower had never belonged to another before - he had been consumed by his duty, and then by his determination to right his mistake even if it meant destroying everything known by humanity.

Harlock kicked away the coverlet and slid out of bed, prying his fingers away from the Flower and leaving on his bed as he traded his comfortable sleeping clothes for his day uniform. Leaving his gloves off, he took up the flower again and left his quarters, running his fingers over one of the conduits along the corridor wall.

"Where is he?" Harlock asked softly, and the Arcadia hummed beneath his boots, the sound building and thrumming through the air around him.

Harlock smiled slightly, striding through the ship, sure in his path with the guidance of the Arcadia leading him straight to Yama.

"Yama!" Harlock called, and Yama, halfway through the door out of a storage bay, looked up at him, then froze.

Harlock strode down the corridor towards him, and he closed the door, but waited without moving. "Captain?" Yama asked as he approached, spine straightening with the last remnants of military training that only seemed to show when he was nervous.

Harlock took a shallow breath. "Yama." he said again, then hesitated, feeling his face warm as Yama looked up at him. He rubbed his fingers gently over the flower he held at his side in the shadow of his cape, then thrust it towards Yama. "This is yours." he said, voice a little too quick.

Yama blinked, hands coming up to accept the Flower, and Harlock's chest felt warm and almost tight, the feeling surging up under his collarbones.

"Um. . ." Yama looked at it, then back up at Harlock. "I don't know-"

Harlock's breath caught, shuddering as his gaze dropped to where Yama's fingers were lightly rubbing one of the flower petals. Heat surged in his cheeks and his heart felt unsteady.

Yama's eyes widened. "This is- Oh my _stars_ a- _Harlock_. . . This is your _Heart Flower_." It wasn't quite a question, despite Yama's huge eyes and soft, slightly unsteady tone. "You. . . What?" His voice wavered a little more.

Harlock swallowed, shifting as he dropped his hand. "You brought it back to me." he said quietly, and licked his lips. "It was dead for a hundred years and you-" he broke off as Yama's breath hitched and he reached out abortively with the hand not holding Harlock's Flower.

"It was dead, _gone_ , for a hundred years," Harlock began again, "and then you kissed me, and- and I. . ." His cheeks warmed again and he ducked his head.

A soft flare of sensation rippled up from beneath Harlock's ribs and he raised his eyes to see Yama cradling Harlock's Heart Flower close against his chest, thumb rubbing gently over the base of the flower itself. "Harlock. . ." Yama began, then bit his lip. He reached out, and Harlock startled as Yama clasped his hand, but allowed it.

Yama's hands, streaked with rich dirt from tending his plants, were bare as well, and the clasp of his hand around Harlock's was warm as he tugged, pulling Harlock down the corridor with him.

Harlock followed, but. . . "Yama?" he said curiously.

Yama glanced over his shoulder at Harlock, opened his mouth, then closed it again and shrugged slightly. He pulled Harlock on slightly faster, hurrying through the ship just shy of a run.

Harlock was only a little surprised when Yama finally slowed just outside the greenhouse bay, keying in the code to open the door after barely a pause. He turned towards Harlock, and he tipped his head, watching Yama's expression.

Yama smiled slightly, biting his lip, and stepped backwards into the bay, bringing Harlock with him and then dropping his hand with a final squeeze.

The bay was filled with the smells of earth and water and growing things, lit gently yellow with banks of small flowers and a few other tiny, struggling seedlings of other plants everywhere. Harlock found it relaxing, although sometimes he wasn't sure whether it made him feel sad or hopeful.

"You. . ." Yama stepped away, nestling Harlock's Heart Flower safely on a shelf that held a tray full of tiny seedlings. He ran his fingers among the bobbing blooms ranked upon a table deeper into the bay and then came back with a brilliant blue flower Harlock had never seen before in his hands.

Or perhaps he had seen one like it, but not since he was on Earth - since before . . . everything.

"You should have this." Yama said, holding out the tiny plant. "It's. . . It's been growing brighter." He said, looking a little shy as Harlock carefully took it from him. "I'm happy. Here." Harlock glanced aside at the plants and Yama's smile was a little broader when he looked back. "Yes." he said with a dip of his head. "But also . . . it's _you_ , Harlock." He stretched out a hand and let his fingers drift over Harlock's chest, barely making contact, before falling again. "Captain." His lips quirked.

"I'm glad." Harlock said honestly, voice low. "You keep your Heart among the living plants?" he asked, reverently ruffling the spiky petals with his thumb.

Yama shivered and bit his lip, lashes fluttering. He nodded, opening his mouth on a jumble of syllables and flushing slightly. "I. . . I spend more time here than in my bunk anyway, and . . . I like being around the plants, so I've always thought. . ."

Harlock lay the Flower aside gently, beside where Yama had left his own, then stepped in close. Yama tipped his head back to meet Harlock's eyes, his flush fading as he leaned closer, breath catching. Harlock raised his hands, fingers sliding lightly across Yama's face to cup his jaw as Harlock dipped his head to kiss him softly.

Yama gasped against his mouth, then melted against his body and clung to his shoulders, pulling him down firmly. Harlock smiled, rubbing his thumb over Yama's cheek before tipping his head to deepen the kiss.

Yama's fingers kneaded at his shoulders, and a shiver ran down Harlock's spine as his hands pushed further back, sliding into Yama's hair. Yama hummed, tongue flicking playfully against Harlock's as he tried to move even closer.

Harlock purred, nuzzling Yama's cheek even as he broke slowly away from the kiss, though he didn't try to put any space between them.

"You should keep them here, together." Harlock said, eyes drifting to the Flowers as he curled an arm around Yama's waist.

Yama kissed his jaw, arms sliding around his shoulders. "You should come and see me here more often." he said, and Harlock arched an eyebrow as he looked back at Yama, smiling. Yama smiled back, tugging at his shoulders, and Harlock obligingly let himself be drawn down into another kiss, hand splaying out low on Yama's back.

* * *

Harlock's Heart Flower is, naturally, a little white spaceflower, as depicted in the movie. Yama's is a cornflower.


End file.
